Kanjigar the Missing
by Castellia
Summary: Just as Kanjigar is returning from a mission, Blinky senses something different about him. He seems to be more gloating. something really is different, but no one believes him. He finally accepts that it is nothing, or is it?
1. Chapter 1: Worries

Blinky didn't like to be near sunlight. He settled down in a drainage pipe, closer to the sunlight than he usually dared, but not close enough for it to touch him and turn him to stone. He just sat there, staring.

The pipe emptied into a large canal, with steep sides just slanted enough to go down and climb up. The canal was usually dry, so it was safe to sit there as long as no human spotted him. Blinky and his kind had lived down under the humans' city for centuries, in a place called Trollmarket. Trollmarket was safe. It hid them from humans, and sunlight, and, most importantly, Gumm-Gumms.

He sat there thinking _,_ wondering and worrying about his friend Kanjigar. He had been waiting all day for him. Waiting and patience came naturally for most trolls, but not easily for Blinky, since he had such an active mind. Thoughts were always racing, questions zooming around, and worries pooling in his head.

Wanting to shake his thoughts before being driven mad, he turned around and started walking through the dark, empty sewers.

 _Where is Kanjigar? He is never this late! Oh, stop it, Blinkous, you're being paranoid again!_

He paced for a while, getting closer to the canal each time as the sun set and the light slanting across the pipe's entrance retreated. And then, finally, he heard the deep rumble of Kanjigar's voice.

"Dang this blasted armor! Why does it have to be so loud?"

Kanjigar's voice was deep and had a gruff tinge in it. Upon hearing it, Blinky turned around with a wide smile spread across his face. He could see the Trollhunter's shiny silver armour, forged from daylight like his sword, glowing faintly outside the entrance of the pipe. With all four hands spread out, he ran and burst outside to give Kanjigar a hug. It was difficult with his armor, but Blinky didn't care.

"Umm, okay," said Kanjigar. He gently pried Blinky off of him. "So, umm, off to Trollmarket then! Right?"

"Oh, yes, I suppose we should get going," said Blinky. The drainage pipe where Blinky had been waiting was next to a tall bridge, which served as a way for humans and their vehicles to cross over the canal. But the bridge had another use. It also served as a gateway to Trollmarket, home and sanctuary for all good trolls.

They walked up to the wall under the bridge. Blinky took out a horngazel, the very key to Trollmarket. Without it, no one could get in. If it fell into the hands of their most vicious enemies, then Trollmarket would be in serious danger.

He traced a large semicircle, large enough for Kanjigar to enter, but not so large as it would need to be if their other friend Aaarrrgghh were with them. Blinky pressed his hand against the wall, and immediately the wall cracked, glowing blue. The archway he had drawn opened, and before them sat the crystal staircase.

Blinky turned around after they entered to make sure the wall closed, which it did. They walked down the staircase. It was a long way down. Kanjigar broke the silence.

"Why were you waiting for me, Blinky? You knew my mission would take much too long for you to just wait around."

"Yes, I know, but you are my friend. Besides, I was also keeping a lookout for any humans or enemies," Blinky said.

"Very well. But next time, please wait for me in Trollmarket."

"Alright, but next time don't take as long," Blinky retorted cheerfully.

"I'll try not to," Kanjigar muttered from under his breath.

As they reached the bottom of the staircase, all the luminescent colors from Heartstone Trollmarket flooded their eyes. A large portion of Trollmarket was visible from where they were standing. In the center, far back, sat the enormous Heartstone, estimated to be millions of years old, around which the market had been built. The orange iridescent glow of the Heartstone lit up all of Trollmarket, with other colours shining out from different types of gemstones and minerals.

Filling the streets and walkways of Trollmarket were shops and stands, with their vendors inside trying to sell their collections to other trolls. Apart from the stones and shops, what really made Trollmarket warm and lively were the trolls. Thousand were out and about doing their daily business. Trollmarket gave sanctuary to many different types of trolls, so rarely were there more than a handful of the same type of troll in close proximity.

It was a grand sight indeed. After taking a moment to gaze upon Trollmarket's colorful delight, Blinky and Kanjigar moved on to continue their walk to the Hero's Forge, a vast arena where the Trollhunter trained and practiced.

As they made their way down the final steps, Blinky happened to catch a look at Kanjigar's face. The Trollhunter's expression was uncharacteristically smug.

As they walked the streets of Trollmarket, Blinky considered how calm Kanjigar had been, coming back from his mission. Had perhaps he discovered something about their enemy, Bular the Vicious, the last Gumm-Gumm in this realm? Had he been triumphant in his quest and slayed Bular at last?

Kanjigar never bragged about anything. He accepted gifts from the residents of Trollmarket, but did not demand them as his due. Blinky couldn't figure out why Kanjigar was looking so pleased with himself, or so sly, but he couldn't help feeling that something was wrong.

He pushed that thought aside. He was clearly overthinking matters. He would not concentrate all his time and will on this one small feeling. Blinky loved to uncover mysteries and conspiracy theories, but if he claimed something seemed odd about Kanjigar … he worried that others would mock him for that, and also worried that Kanjigar would accuse him of not knowing his own friend.

They finally got through the enormous crowds of trolls, and reached the Hero's Forge.

* * *

 _This chapter has been edited by Forever-Furuba_

 _Thanks to Forever-Furuba for editing these chapters. I am an amateur and they have really helped me out. They also wrote the fan fiction of Becoming the Mask, which I recommend. I suggest you reread with the corrections._


	2. Chapter 2: Seeing things

As Blinky and the oddly smug Kanjigar entered the Hero's Forge, the first sight to greet their eyes was Draal the Deadly, Kanjigar's son and the self-proclaimed 'rightful heir of the amulet'.

It looked to Blinky like Draal had spent the day battering the Forge's training equipment to pieces. All around him sat piles of broken dummies, stone chunks, metal shards, and wooden scraps. At Draal's side was Aaarrrgghh, a former general of Gunmar, dividing the trash into further piles as he sorted through it all.

As soon as Draal laid eyes on his father, his mouth erupted in a wide smile. As Blinky had, Draal ran to greet Kanjigar with a hug. Blinky could swear he saw Kanjigar gently trying to pry Draal off of him, but Draal was too enveloped in the hug to notice. Blinky went to greet Aaarrrgghh.

"Blinky!" Aaarrrgghh joyfully lifted Blinky off the ground with his brute strength.

"Hello, old friend. How have you been?" Blinky asked.

"Helping Draal clean." He motioned his head to the piles of trash. "Was waiting for you. Gone long time."

"Indeed I was. I needed to see that our Trollhunter was alright."

"Thought Kanjigar didn't like you spy on him."

"What? I was not spying on him," Blinky insisted. "I was merely waiting for him to return." He thought his excuse sounded pretty good, but Aaarrrgghh shook his head.

"Sorry. Kanjigar told me to tell you no more following him."

Blinky sighed. He had to accept this.

"Alright, old friend … But would it hurt to check on him every once in a while?"

He offered a small smile. Aaarrrgghh gave him a stern look in return, that said Blinky had best not. The two trolls turned their attention back to the father and son in time to see Kanjigar extract himself from Draal's embrac

"Now that we have _that_ out of the way," said Kanjigar, "I would like you, Blinkous, to escort me to your library."

"But Kanjigar … you already know where my library is. You helped me build it when we got here, remember?"

"I did?" asked Kanjigar. "I mean, I did! I shall go look for – I mean, walk to it."

He turned around abruptly. Blinky watched in confusion as Kanjigar left the Hero's Forge. Aaarrrgghh began to sort through the piles of trash again.

"Does Kanjigar seem a little odd to you?" Blinky asked Draal and Aaarrrgghh.

"No," said Draal simply. "Why?"

"It's just, how could he forget the way to my library when he was the one who suggested where to put it?"

"Don't know," said Aaarrrgghh. "Maybe tired from battle."

"Aaarrrgghh has a point, Blinky," Draal agreed. "I don't think anything is wrong with my father a day's rest won't fix."

Blinky considered this. Kanjigar had spent the day hiding on the surface, which would strain any troll. But forgetting something so basic, and that peculiar expression on his face when they returned to Trollmarket, and the almost spiteful look when he'd pulled away from his son …

 _What if they're right? Does that mean I'm going mad? No, surely not. I must have seen something._

Of course, Blinky had _also_ spent the day hiding on the surface. Perhaps the stress of that had gotten to him and he was reading too much into tiny, innocuous actions.

Yes. It was probably nothing. Everything was fine.

* * *

 _This chapter has been edited by Forever-Furuba._


	3. Chapter 3: Something is Definitely Wrong

Blinky said his goodbyes to Draal and Aaarrrgghh and let them get back to their sorting. He had nothing to do for the rest of the day, so he thought he would go and help Kanjigar find whatever he was looking for.

When Blinky stepped into his library, he wished he hadn't. It was a huge mess, with books and scrolls everywhere. Tables were overturned and shelves were empty. Kanjigar was in the middle of the room, his back turned to the door.

Blinky ducked behind a large stack of books, not wanting to disturb the other troll. Out of Kanjigar's sight, Blinky studied him curiously, trying to work out what exactly he was doing and what he could possibly be looking for so haphazardly.

"No, not that." Every few seconds, books would fly across the room. "Not even remotely close." One of the thrown books knocked over a pile that had presumably already been searched. "AARRGGHH! Why is it so hard to find anything in this blasted library?!" The lights above shuddered from the force of his shout.

It was odd that Kanjigar was having trouble locating a book. He came in every once in a while to help Blinky organize. Well, maybe Blinky had recently been reading whichever book Kanjigar now sought and had tucked it away somewhere to come back to it.

Stepping out from behind the piles hiding him, Blinky accidentally set off an avalanche, causing multiple books to slide onto the ground, creating even more of a mess.

Kanjigar jumped and turned around at the noise, and saw Blinky standing knee-deep in the sea of books.

"Ah! Blinkous. Am I happy to see you!"

Kanjigar motioned him to step deeper into the library. Blinky was too stunned to speak. His library was an even bigger mess in the back. And Kanjigar rarely ever called him 'Blinkous'. Maybe it was another side effect of the odd mood he was in, jumping from irritable to pleased with little prompting. Kanjigar led Blinky to a table in the back, which was nearly as covered in books as the library floor.

"Um, yes, hello, Kanjigar. Seeing as I have the rest of the day off, could I join you in looking for whatever you need?"

"Perfect. I need your help in tracking down something on this blasted am-" The Trollhunter stopped himself. "Something on the amulet!"

He said this with a smile, which was likely meant to reassure Blinky, but only further unnerved him. Kanjigar rarely smiled.

"Well, Kanjiar," Blinky said, deciding to follow his own advice and ignore Kanjigar's peculiar behaviour until they'd both had a chance to sleep, "there have been a few books detailing the events that led up to Merlin creating the amulet. I also have a selection of volumes about past Trollhunters and major events in which they were involved. Unfortunately, as no one really knows how the amulet works, anything written about the amulet specifically is outside observation, coupled with speculation and guesswork."

"Very well," said Kanjigar, disappointed. "I shall take everything you just recommended."

Blinky helped Kanjigar pick out some books from the piles, shelving others as best he could while they searched. They were mostly classics like _A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore: Volume 10,_ or _The Many Adventures of Past Trollhunters._

Kanjigar's arms were piled heavily with books as he headed for the library entrance. Blinky wished him farewell and good luck with his research. Kanjigar paused in the doorway, like he needed to process this, and then quickly said, "Ah, yes! I shall have these books back to you by tomorrow!"

After taking only one step outside, Kanjigar turned back around to face Blinky again. Blinky had already started cleaning up, and so both trolls had their arms full of books. Blinky was holding enough of them that he couldn't see Kanjigar with the lowest pair of his six eyes. But his upper four eyes could see clearly, and caught a tinge of worry in his expression.

"Um. Blinkous. You wouldn't happen to know when my cave is, do you?"

This set off alarm bells inside Blinky's head. How could Kanjigar not know where he lived?

"Kanjigar, you live right up this hill," Blinky said slowly.

"Yes. Heheh. Right. I'm sorry, it's been a long day and my mind is a little … scattered."

He didn't look apologetic, or amusedly self-deprecating. He looked anxious.

Once Kanjigar was gone, Blinky walked back to the table and set down his books, and thought.

Kanjigar had been frantically trying to find something about how the amulet worked, but why? He had held the amulet ever since they were on the _Mayflower,_ stowed away and sailing to the New World in hopes of finding a new home. Kanjigar learned quickly and seldom asked questions. Why, in Deya's name, would he start asking about how the amulet worked now?

Blinky stood there in the library, surrounded by books he really ought to be tidying away, puzzling through recent events and trying to make sense of all he'd seen. Kanjigar had been acting strangely, and lost pieces of his memory, and – _wait_. What if all this had to do with something that had happened during his mission?

 _No!_ _Blinky, stop being so paranoid!_

But what if he was correct? Was something really wrong with Kanjigar? Had someone done something to him during his mission, something that changed him?

Unfortunately, quick and decisive action could not be taken to root out the source of whatever was going on. This wasn't the first time Blinky had gotten suspicious of someone. After the last several times had exposed nothing but his own paranoia, if he tried to tell anyone about this now, they would dismiss his concerns; or worse, outright think he had gone mad.

So instead, Blinky would wait, and gather more information. He would study Kanjigar to catch further odd behaviours or memory lapses. It was a worrying situation, but that would be the plan, for now.

* * *

 _This chapter has been edited by Forever-Furuba._


	4. Chapter 4: Observations and Devastation

There was a difference, of course, between having a plan and executing it.

One would think a big blue troll who often wore shiny, reflective armor would be easy to follow, but apparently not.

Kanjigar returned the books later than he said he would. He simply appeared in the library, dropped them on the table, and left again before Blinky could ask if he'd found the information about the amulet that he'd been hoping for, or what that information was.

Blinky attempted to track down Kanjigar every few hours for the next few days, but was mostly unsuccessful. He tried asking other trolls if they'd seen the Trollhunter. They inevitably asked why, and when Blinky said it was just to check on him, they would roll their eyes and continue with whatever they were doing.

No one said spying on the Trollhunter was easy. Because of how often Kanjigar left Trollmarket, Blinky had only small windows of opportunity to see him, and was rarely fast enough to track him down before Kanjigar left again.

Finally, one day, Blinky caught Kanjigar walking toward the Crystal Staircase, one of the horngazel exit points. Blinky was just coming out of his library when he spotted him about to start climbing the stairs. Since they had not had seen each other in a while, he thought he would go say a friendly hello to him, and perhaps take more mental notes of his behavior.

He casually threw aside the books he was holding and ran, hurrying after the Trollhunter. Blinky slipped a few times climbing up the Crystal Staircase. Kanjigar was far enough ahead that the curl of the steps meant Blinky couldn't quite see him, but hopefully Blinky would catch up before he could leave.

As he reached the top, he saw Kanjigar tracing a semicircle on the concrete wall with a horngazel. He was startled by the noise Blinky made as he tripped on the top step from climbing too fast. Kanjigar turned around rapidly.

"Oh. It's only you, Blinky." He looked both relieved and annoyed. He went back to what he was doing before.

It took Blinky a few seconds to stand up, and while he did, Kanjigar finished tracing the semicircle on the wall. He was already raising his hand to open the portal when Blinky cried, "Wait!"

Kanjigar huffed impatiently and scowled. Blinky did not know what to make of that. Kanjigar, whenever Blinky wanted to talk to him before, at least acted interested. Right now, arms folded and fingers drumming on his elbow, not even bothering to make eye contact, he looked bored out of his mind. He hadn't been at all concerned when Blinky fell, either. Blinky took a quick mental note to add this to the rest of his observations thus far.

"Kanjigar, um, how have you been?" He stretched his mouth into a wide, forced grin.

When he didn't get an answer, he fidgeted with his fingers, frantically trying to think of something else to say. Oh, Blinky was terrible at improvising!

"So, how come you keep leaving Trollmarket?" he asked after a minute or so.

Kanjigar just stared at him blankly. Blinky worried that this might not have been a good idea, that the Trollhunter might have been busy and had something bigger on his mind than Blinky's silly concerns. He was about to turn around and go back down to Trollmarket when Kanjigar spoke.

"Oh, ah, yes, well, I've had some, um, missions!" He gave Blinky another of those rare and foreign-looking smiles. It faded when Blinky just looked puzzled, so Blinky nodded quickly.

"Of course, of course, a Trollhunter is always busy. But may I ask, what kinds of missions?"

"You know, missions." He gestured vaguely with his hands. "I've been really busy this week, with, you know; so sorry if you haven't seen me."

The semicircle Kanjigar drew earlier started to fade. His mouth and eyes went tense in an urgent expression. He slapped the centre of the archway to force it open before he would have to redraw it.

"Well, ahem, I _really_ must go. Things to do." He was already walking out into the canal when Blinky spoke.

"May I assist you?"

Blinky waited desperately for an answer. This question was a sort of test.

Kanjigar never let anyone join him on missions. Whenever Blinky had offered in the past, he always said that it would be too dangerous … although what he truly thought was probably that he would have to protect both Blinky and himself, _and_ listen to Blinky talk for hours.

So, if nothing had changed, and this was the real Kanjigar, he would not let Blinky go.

Kanjigar shook his head sharply. "I'm sorry, Blinkous. It would be really dangerous for you. So, please, don't follow me like you normally do."

At this he rolled his eyes, which prompted Blinky to narrow his own.

"Yes, I understand," said Blinky. "Well, I'd best be going back, then."

"Yes, well, thank you," said Kanjigar, back turned to him, and already walking away.

Blinky watched Kanjigar cross under the bridge. The portal closed, but just before the wall fully sealed, Kanjigar muttered, "Stupid troll. Talks too much."

Blinky almost cried when he heard that. Kanjigar was his friend. He had never spoken badly of Blinky before, no matter how annoyed he was with him.

 _Pull yourself together!_ Blinky chided himself. He was sad, but this was just what he was looking for – another sign that Kanjigar wasn't really Kanjigar.

Blinky walked down the steps much more slowly than he'd climbed them. Even though he was sure now that it was just an imposter, hearing those words in his friend's voice weighed heavily on him.

Kanjigar didn't really think that, did he?

No, the real Kanjigar was too honourable to insult a troll behind his back, or to speak cruelly of a friend. If he had a problem with Blinky, he would address the matter politely and to Blinky's face, the way he had first told Blinky to stop sneaking after him on missions to try and help.

Blinky started piecing together his fragments of evidence on the walk back to his library. He settled down amongst his books and immediately began, once more, to review everything he had observed.

* * *

 _This chapter has been edited by Forever-Furuba._

 _OK so sorry this chapter took a little longer that expected. I just had so many things to do in the month and not enough time. But thanks for waiting patiently._


	5. Chapter 5: Help From an Old Friend

An irritating number of incidents of Kanjigar's uncharacteristic behaviour blurred together. Try though he might, wanting to be specific in his evidence, Blinky couldn't count the number of times he had seen a smug look on Kanjigar's face, or how often he'd made a sneering comment.

Some of the things Blinky did remember clearly, enough to name the place and time, he half-wished he didn't. Like when Kanjigar had shoved through a group of trolls, pushing them aside even as they moved out of his way. The Trollhunter had dismissed his roughness and aggression as an accident and grumbled about how crowded Trollmarket was getting.

Hampered by his guilt over his broken promise not to spy on Kanjigar, Blinky couldn't bring himself to ask Aaarrrgghh for help.

Plus, he didn't want to drag his friend into this. He could, he _should_ , do this alone. No matter how convinced he was that he was right, he couldn't bear the possible humiliation of being proven a paranoid fool once more. He needed something irrefutable before he told anyone else. Even Aaarrrgghh.

That intention held firm until Aaarrrgghh came to visit the library.

"Blinky!" He ran over to where Blinky was and gave him a death-squeeze hug before Blinky could even turn around.

"Hello, old friend!" Blinky relaxed easily into the hug. With his preoccupation studying Kanjigar, it had been a long time since he had last seen Aaarrrgghh. He gently patted the larger troll on the side with his exposed bottom right arm.

The hug lasted a long time before Aaarrrgghh set Blinky down. He had a beaming smile on his face, and pushed one of Blinky's upper shoulders in playful chiding.

"What are you doing? Why haven't been with Draal and me?"

Blinky guessed they were either _still_ cleaning up the mess in the Forge, or they were making an even bigger one.

"Well, you know Draal likes to be alone sometimes." Draal was more of a loner than most trolls. "As for you, well …" He desperately tried to think up of a good reason why he had been avoiding Aaarrrgghh.

But, in the end, he couldn't lie to his friend's face, so he told him everything.

He described what he could of Kanjigar's strange behavior – getting lost in familiar places, disappearing even more than Trollhunter duties accounted for, unusual facial expressions or speech patterns – and how Blinky had avoided his best friend to spend more time investigating the probable imposter.

He held back the rude comments Kanjigar had made about Trollmarket and about Blinky himself, but other than that, everything came flying out.

At the end, Aaaarrgghh just looked at Blinky. Blinky folded his four hands together in a nervous pattern. Would Aaaarrgghh be angry at Blinky for avoiding him and spying on Kanjigar? Blinky would deserve that, really. He cringed; face to face with a friend he had been ignoring to stalk another, Blinky could see how his recent behaviour hadn't been much better than the false Kanjigar's.

To Blinky's surprise, Aaarrrgghh's face did not turn angry. Instead, his expression was soft and understanding. There was even a hint of another smile in the way his eyes crinkled.

"Oh, Blinky," said Aaarrrgghh. He hugged him quickly again, while Blinky was still stunned.

"What … Aren't you mad?" Blinky asked. "I lied to you, and avoided you, and I broke our promise!"

"I understand," he said. "You worry. Glad you told someone."

Great Gronka-Morka, what had Blinky ever done to deserve such a wonderful companion as Aaarrrgghh?

"That is true. So, do you have any advice of what I could do to help my current situation?"

"Hmm."

Aaaarrgghh studied the ceiling for a while, the way he did when he was racking his brain for ideas. He looked down at Blinky again. He only spoke a single word, and that word made Blinky explode.

"Vendel."

Blinky's jaw dropped. "VENDEL?!" he shouted. Aaarrrgghh stumbled back in surprise at the smaller troll's volume and force, but he nodded.

"Talk to Vendel. Might help."

"Might help?" Blinky repeated. " _Might help_?! Aaarrrgghh, he thinks I'm mad!"

"Might help you," Aaarrrgghh insisted.

"He will not help me, he will simply keep remarking on how crazy I am and how I need to stop chasing conspiracies!" Blinky could probably be heard outside the library.

"Try," said Aaarrrgghh softly.

"I will not, I will …"

Blinky paused. Aaarrrgghh was wiser than he was often given credit for. His advice rarely steered Blinky wrong. Perhaps Blinky should take the chance on Vendel turning him away. Whatever the old troll said, Blinky would at least still have Aaarrrgghh's support.

"Very well, old friend. I shall try and talk to Vendel tomorrow."

Aaarrrgghh beamed a smile at Blinky. He hugged him a third time, and then left the library before anything else could set Blinky off screaming again.

 _Vendel? What could he possibly do? He probably won't even listen!_

But Blinky had already broken one promise to Aaarrrgghh. He wasn't eager to break another. He fully anticipated that he would fail to make Vendel listen, let alone _believe_ him that Kanjigar had either been brainwashed, thus needed to be snapped back to himself, or been replaced, and the real Trollhunter needed to be found and rescued … but he would try.

He would try, even if he would fail to make Vendel listen.

 _Talk to Vendel. For Kanjigar. For Trollmarket. For Aaarrrgghh._

* * *

 _This chapter has been edited by Forever-Furuba._


End file.
